Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Components: Actuators and Gear Boxes

In course

EE-580: Introduction to the design of space mechanisms

Space environment is different from what we can experience on Earth, requiring specific design approaches in order to achieve reliable operations. Engineers must hence face new challenges stimulating their creativity to tackle those particular constraints. ...

Description

This lecture covers the sizing and selection of motors and actuators, including voice coil and piezoactuators. It also discusses gear boxes, harmonic drives, sensors like optical encoders and potentiometers, as well as cables and gauges. The presentation delves into the working principles and classification of electromagnetic actuators, focusing on brushless DC motors and their components. Various motor diagrams are analyzed, detailing the speed and torque constants, efficiency curves, and thermal effects. The lecture further explores the selection and operation of motors, emphasizing factors like torque, speed, and efficiency. Additionally, it examines the design and function of accessories such as gear boxes, encoders, and sensors, providing insights into their applications in space mechanisms.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Electrical engineering

Electronic engineering: Power electronics

Related concepts (28)

Electric motor

An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate force in the form of torque applied on the motor's shaft. An electric generator is mechanically identical to an electric motor, but operates with a reversed flow of power, converting mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Linear actuator

A linear actuator is an actuator that creates motion in a straight line, in contrast to the circular motion of a conventional electric motor. Linear actuators are used in machine tools and industrial machinery, in computer peripherals such as disk drives and printers, in valves and dampers, and in many other places where linear motion is required. Hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders inherently produce linear motion. Many other mechanisms are used to generate linear motion from a rotating motor.

Stepper motor

A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor, is a brushless DC electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. The motor's position can be commanded to move and hold at one of these steps without any position sensor for feedback (an open-loop controller), as long as the motor is correctly sized to the application in respect to torque and speed. Switched reluctance motors are very large stepping motors with a reduced pole count, and generally are closed-loop commutated.

DC motor

A DC motor is an electrical motor that uses direct current (DC) to produce mechanical force. The most common types rely on magnetic forces produced by currents in the coils. Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic, to periodically change the direction of current in part of the motor. DC motors were the first form of motors widely used, as they could be powered from existing direct-current lighting power distribution systems.

AC motor

An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). The AC motor commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the output shaft producing a second rotating magnetic field. The rotor magnetic field may be produced by permanent magnets, reluctance saliency, or DC or AC electrical windings.

Related lectures (33)

Robotics: Actuation and Mobility Analysis

Covers corrected exercises from the 2020 exam in the field of robotics, including topics such as accuracy, speed, DC motors, optimal gear ratio, dynamics of robot arms, encoders, and kinematics.

Robotics Actuators

Explores hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical actuators used in robotics, including stepper motors and specific energy comparisons.

Mechatronics: Robotics and Components

Covers the fundamentals of mechatronics, focusing on actuation, torques, gear transmissions, and robotics.

Asynchronous Motor: Electronic Control MOOC: Electromechanical conversion II

Covers voltage/frequency variation in big engines and vector control for synchronous and asynchronous motors.

Motors: DC and Servos